


Lies and Lust

by BumblingBunny



Category: Borderlands
Genre: F/M, Helios - Freeform, Hyperion, Language, Some Plot, borderlands - Freeform, eventual angst, i still suck at tags, mature content, not canon, shall have smut, slight au?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2020-12-24 11:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21098975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BumblingBunny/pseuds/BumblingBunny
Summary: Sep 2020 — ON HIATUS - BUT WILL BE CONTINUED ONCE MY OTHER FIC IS FINISHED!A small story about a young woman who finds herself wound up in a web she never asked to be put in. A life of corporate rivalry thrust on her, and the little lies with a certain Handsome CEO that she gets herself tangled in.-Obviously, not canon.





	1. Ch 1

Pandora. The wasted planet, scarred by nearly every weapon manufacturer’s own plans for it. Now nearly completely under the control of the Hyperion Corporation.

Looking down at it from the ship breaking into its atmosphere, inching closer and closer every second. This area looked bleak from above. All brown and dusty. The large bodies of water could be seen surrounding the desert-like lands - a few patches of actual green blooming up here and there. The deep and glowing purple scar lured the eyes away from all of that though. Beckoning to those who wanted to know the world’s secrets. From space, the marbled planet could almost pass for being beautiful, until you looked closer. The continuous bloodshed could almost be overlooked if it wasn’t so synonymous with the planet now.

Maybe if it was prettier like the aquamarine planets or the Edens that were closest to its zone - but, it wasn’t. The deserts that had appeared once the planet’s dry cycle had commenced, now covered the majority of the planet. The icy zones, and the higher flora populated areas were the rarer sights. The native beasts and strange creatures that travelers had brought to the land - now flourished and dominated many parts of the world. Instilling fear into any who found themselves out in the wilds. If the creatures and insane people, known now as bandits, didn’t kill you...the heat and lack of common clean water of the deserts, surely would. Pandora was not a place to be trifled with. If you weren’t made of something strong enough to bite back with, she’d be the death of you.

Rosie had heard the stories of the infamous planet. The horrors that occurred there over the many years. It had never been a place she’d had the desire of going to. She was just a child when she’d first heard of it. It’d been on the galactic news again - someone looking for a Vault and getting themselves killed trying to open it. She’d heard of vaults. Everyone had heard of vaults by the time they could understand words.

Her mother, Iris, had told her wonderful fairytales of what could be inside, always warning of the unimaginable monsters that guarded them. “Vault hunting is a fools way of life.” She’d say with her nose in the air. “...but wouldn’t it be fascinating to see one?” She’d smile and giggle as she tickled Rosie before tucking her in for the night.

Yes, Rosie knew of the vaults. She knew the stories at least. The stories from the news, and from her mother. Her mother always told such wonderful tales. Some were just fairytales, some were _real_.

When she’d first seen Pandora on the news vids - it was her mother that had asked if she had learned of the planet yet. Of course, she hadn’t. Dionysus’s schools for the elite and wealthy didn’t waste their time on telling stories of a backwater dustball such as Pandora. Rosie’s mother though, loved to tell stories and inform Rosie on all things. She’d told her of the bad things that had happened on the planet - she’d told her of Atlas’s desire for more Eridian technology, and of Dahl’s abandonment of its workers, once upon a time. However, she also told of the wonders that the planet held. From its strange creatures, to its deep secrets buried beneath its surface. The way the dangerous world seemed to draw all sorts of people to it. The planet was an unknown to so many, and an end to so many more.

Pandora wasn’t the only planet her mother had told her about. There wasn’t any planet in the galaxies that Rosie hadn’t heard at least a little about. Pandora though, was her father’s next business move. The majority of its people were poor compared to other, more thriving, planets. The Hyperion corporation had had its feet planted firmly in its soil for the last couple of decades. Eventually moving the majority of their company to the sky above the planet. It had been said it was for safety measures. With the bandit populace growing slowly over the years. -But it almost seemed like more of a power play. The large space station that had been built in the shape of an enormous H lurked over the people of Pandora - always reminding them who was really in control.

Rosie’s father didn’t work for Hyperion though. No, he was the fourth descendent in the long line of old men and their sons - who owned the Maliwan corporation. Unfortunately for her father, William J. Maliwan IV...he wasn’t given a son. Not for lack of trying. Unfortunately, Rosie’s mother’s body hadn’t done so well with giving birth to Rosie. In fact, it had paralyzed her from the waist down. With the help of robotics, she could walk just fine...until she eventually got too tired for even that. After just a few years, she decided on just using a powered wheelchair. At the time, Rosie was too young to have known that her mother was plagued with a disease. One that hadn’t shown itself until she became pregnant. It was a slow acting sickness. It didn’t hurt too badly and it wasn’t visible. However, it very slowly weakened her.

Iris was known for being a lovely woman. Proud and supportive of her husband. She’d come from an aristocratic family, almost pushed into getting closer with William just so the two famines could have a link. Although, she had fallen for the older (by a few years) blonde haired man anyway - and he with her. She was a beautiful young woman. Her skin was akin to porcelain with two emeralds for eyes, shaded by thick lashes. Her curled, fiery orange/red hair was what had drawn William’s eye to her when he’d first been introduced to her as a younger man. It matched Maliwan’s colors perfectly. She looked like a trophy to him, and he couldn’t wait to win her over. The two seemed to click almost instantly. The parents of the pair couldn’t have been more delighted that their plan had worked without them needing to push too much. The two lovers were inseparable and after a few years, they were wed. Not before long, the news had spread of the soon to be Maliwan heir growing inside of her. William would whisper to her stomach as he rubbed large circles with his fingers, over the growing bump - whispers of what all the child would have in life. The spoils he would grow with, the wonders he would see, and of course...the company he would own alongside his father. “The fifth son in the long line of Maliwans. The next heir to my great grandfather’s company!” He’d whisper as he kissed the soft skin of her growing belly.

However, when the delivery came...and a son was not what he found in the arms of his beloved...Rosie became the heir to his family’s dreams and hard work. To say he was disappointed would be...appropriate. He loved her, but she wasn’t the son he’d hoped for. He grew to sink further into his work. Working alongside his father and leaving his wife to raise Rosie for the most part. It was only months before Rosie’s second birthday that he’d asked to begin trying to conceive again, to finally get the son he dreamed of. Iris, of course, wanted another child. Another bundle for her to love and spoil - but after trying for over a year and always failing...the time came to find out why.

Her ailment was finally confirmed. No amount of quick-med injection would cure it. Nor any surgery or treatment of any kind. It could be treated, to slow it down...but she would likely never have another child, and eventually...this disease would kill her. The news had devastated them both, but Iris had felt guilty for not being able to give her husband what she knew he wanted.

Again, William grew further into his work. Soon, his own father passed away and he inherited the entire company. The demand for his attention was pressing, but he handled it well enough. His father and grandfather had trained him for when his time would come. He began the building plans for a new location for his company, on the planet Pandora. It was closer to the competition and would allow a larger area to increase the company’s output.

There were days when Rosie wouldn’t even see her father...even on her birthday some years. Her mother had always comforted her - always told her that her father loved her deeply...that he was just busy. As the few years ticked by, and Rosie grew to the age of seven...her mother could barely move anymore. She spent most of her time in her bed, keeping the small amount of strength she had. There was never a time that Rosie would see her frown or cry. She’d pat the large bed for Rosie to climb up and she’d read or tell stories while Rosie drew pictures of what she imagined from them.

One day, there were no more stories. There were no smiles to be had. There was no warm embrace or tickles. Only her father telling her that “Mommy is gone. She went on one of her own adventures. She couldn’t take you with her this time...”

At the young age of seven, Rosie had already learned what death was. Her mother hadn’t wanted her to grow up naive. She knew she could never see her mother again, but she missed the stories. The wonder and excitement of new things. After all, the inside of a large mansion could only be wandered so many times before even that got old and boring.

Rosie’s father hadn’t taken the death of his wife well. He stayed in his office the majority of the time, while Rosie was taken care of by the nanny-bot. The cold robot was programmed to be nice and caring...but not much else. She was definitely no substitute for Iris. Occasionally, Rosie would go with her father to the large and tall building that housed her father’s work office. The giant paintings of her great-grandfathers all the way down to her own father adorned the walls. She’d spend hours sometimes looking up at them and creating stories about who they were and things they’d done. Only getting those thoughts cut short when her father would snap his fingers and scowl at her to get back to reading her studies.

Rosie grew used to her cold and distant father. He’d never truly been very close to her and she could tell that as she got a bit older - he seemed to not even like looking at her. She looked nearly identical to her mother. Her hair just as fiery red and her skin just as silky smooth and fine as porcelain. The only difference being her eyes. She’d been gifted the striking bright, crystal blue eyes of her father.

Even still, he only saw Iris when he looked at her...and even more..he only saw a young, naive girl. A girl who enjoyed stories of far off planets, not the stories of becoming a CEO. He knew she’d have to change if she was to ever follow in his place. To inherit his company.

By the time Rosie turned thirteen - the memories of her mother had faded. Her father never talked much about her and only a few pictures on the walls remained in the old, large home. The relationship between her and her father had never grown any closer. She’d sit in his study with him, reading book after book and watching vids that were to help teach her the basics of business. It was rather boring at first. There was not much excitement to be found in the words of a business course. Her mind would drift to more exciting things...and her father would notice. Each time, being startled out of the daydreams by a quick snap of his fingers or a balled fist on the hard surface of his desk.

It wasn’t long before she was informed that she’d be going away to a special school for a few years. Away from home. Only returning for certain holidays deemed acceptable by her father.

It had frightened her at first, but for a rare moment her father had consoled her. “Don’t fear the unknown. Learn from it. Grow stronger because of it. Gain the knowledge and strength that you’ll need and you’ll never be beaten. You’ll run this company one day, and you will have to be ready.”

With that, she was on a ship...traveling to a different planet, to a boarding school for the children of elite business families. However, it wasn’t just business that Rosie ended up learning during the years she spent there, and then in university. Her father had demanded she learn how to protect herself...and him...should she ever need to. Saying that it was an assassins’ course would be a bit...overkill. Rosie was simply taught how to shoot any kind of gun that was placed in her hands, with just about absolute precision. Where to shoot to merely maim, or where to shoot to kill. Her smaller size wouldn’t allow for much hand to hand combat, but her sharp eyes and non-shaking hands gifted her with the ability to not need to be anywhere near her target. Not that she ever actually had a formal living target. The course, that was very “_hush-hush_” and only known about by the wealthiest of all, only taught how to shoot and how to do it without ever being noticed.

Rosie had actually enjoyed it. The thrill of holding such powerful weapons and having the skill to use them correctly was at the very least...more exciting than desk-work.

Being a young woman by the time she’d finished all of her schooling - she’d mostly let go of all of the child-like fantasies she had when she was young. She knew now that she was graduated, she’d be next to her father...learning the personal business runnings of Maliwan - and for the most part, she looked forward to it. Having been around something long enough, and having it crammed into her head from a young age...she’d grown to like the business lifestyle, and if her grades and school accomplishments were anything to go by...she was pretty damn good at it.

•

Here she was...on a ship...soon to be docking on Pandora. The place her father had decided to build another sub-headquarters for the company. The construction had finally begun a few years ago, when she was still a teen, but she’d never been to it.

She had never stepped foot onto Pandora’s dusty grime and blood soaked earth. She’d spent all of her days roaming the halls of her family’s large estate on Dionysus, the boarding school she’d stayed at for her teen years, and the University she’d gone to. When she’d come home to visit her father, she always stayed in the family mansion and saw her father at the Dionysus headquarters of the company. Since the construction was finished, William had begun going back and forth from Pandora to Dionysus. Only going to Pandora when he absolutely needed to.

It had only been a few weeks since Rosie had returned home from graduating. Her father had the head-office remodeled for her at the Pandoran sub-quarters. He’d claimed that the both of them didn’t need to be on Dionysus. She could run the basics of the Pandora branch, and learn how things worked - while he ran things from their home planet. Of course, she wouldn’t be allowed to make any drastically important decisions - those would always be handled by her father.

Today was the day she was finally going to see her new office. She’d been allowed to throw in some design choices of her own and she was a bit excited to see how it turned out. After a meeting, of course. Not just any meeting though. Every month, once a month, each companies CEO’s or lead representatives, would attend a joined meeting. A few of the companies had their own patent for various elemental damages. Allowing the others to buy the ability to use it on their weapons as well. These meetings kept the air somewhat cleaner between them all and if any problems arose, it was easier to settle them when they were brought forward. Not that it was a “fix-all” to the rivalry between them, there was definitely still a constant reminder that they weren’t working together. Some meetings were nothing more than jabs at each other - squabbling like children.

This was to be Rosie’s official introduction to the other heads of the companies. A way for them to know that William wasn’t the last of his line, and that his company wasn’t up for dibs. Everyone knew he was getting older, you could see it in his face - more and more as each year slipped by.

This month’s meeting was being held by Maliwan. William had chosen the location to be at his Pandoran headquarters. Mostly, so that he could finally introduce Rosie to the room and of course...to show off his newest facility. He didn’t have to worry about the big shot from Hyperion showing up. The CEO that seemed to think he was far superior than the rest. Hyperion always sent some lowly intern that spent their time quickly scribbling down every word said, so that they could give back a thorough report. It seemed like a new person each time for Hyperion. It wasn’t much of a mystery as to why. Somewhere along the line they must have not done a good enough job.

It had been nearly a year before the Hyperion CEO had personally appeared at one of these meetings. William had had the idea to just start letting Rosie be the main face of Maliwan at any of these future meetings, so that he wouldn’t have to show up either, but he wasn’t so sure he could trust her to handle it just yet. This was _his_company, after all. He couldn’t risk her messing something up while he was still alive to be ridiculed about it. No, he didn’t have much faith in this young woman..._his daughter_...running things. She had too much of her mother’s love of excitement and wildness. She may be more tamed now that she was older, but he worried that her interest in wild things could ruin all that he’d continued to build up from his father and fathers before him. For now, she’d be his partner...or, maybe just a business assistant.

-

As the ship settled down into its docked position - the rather luxuriously decorated cabin jostled a bit, causing Rosie to bump her forehead against the cool glass window she’d been looking out of, from her seat. She let out a sigh, giving the tingling skin a rub. “Well hello to you too, Pandora.” She grumbled as she stood and began gathering her small bag.

A chipper young man popped up next to her, seemingly out of nowhere with one of those big, exaggerated service smiles.

“I’ll take your bag to your ride, Miss! Its waiting just right outside for you.” His hand held out expectantly as his bright eyes seemed to stare into her very soul. There definitely was such a thing as being creepily polite - and this kid was acing it. Rosie lifted the not-so-heavy bag up and let the small round straps slide over the young man’s waiting fingers. His grip tightened around them, and with a tip of his hat - he swiftly turned and pranced out of the cabin.

Rosie’s father had demanded that she take a private company ship to the planet’s surface. So that any and all could see her arrive in style and not like some lowly person who would take a ship with other passengers. Either way, Rosie didn’t care too much. She’d constantly been with groups of other people for most of her life. The only times she was nearly alone was when she’d come home from the boarding school for holidays. Her father, usually being in his office, or in meetings...didn’t have too much time to sit around and plan family get-togethers. Not that he’d have wanted to either.

Rosie made her way out of the ship and onto the landing platform. As the man had said, a rather nice looking vehicle was parked nearby. Looking around a bit more, she could see other parked small ships, some taking off, and some landing. This travel center wasn’t very large. Then again, who would want to visit Pandora for leisure? It would be safe to assume that most, if not all of the people landing here, were here for some kind of business. Especially the couple of shuttles that were labeled with the Hyperion logo. Seeing that, Rosie moved her hand over her brow to block out the sun’s glare a bit. Turning in place until her eyes fell upon their target. Way up there, in the distant sky loomed the massive space station she’d heard so many stories about.

She’d often wondered what it would be like to live up so high, in space. After all, for her entire life...she’d always been on some kind of planet. The only space she ever got to see was from tiny windows of shuttles or spaceships, as the blackness zoomed by too quickly to really focus on any one thing. Space was still an unknown wonder for her, and far too enticing to be any good for her.

From this distance, it was too difficult to make out any real details of the station. Just a large, blurry H...and the glowing eye that was cradled in the middle.

“Miss? ...Miss!” The same chipper voice from before ripped through her thoughts, as she turned from her sky-gazing. Just as she’d thought, the same young man bounced up to her with a wide closed mouth smile. “Your transport is ready. You shouldn’t stand out here too long. The sun will burn you quicker here than on some other planets.” With her hand still guarding her eyes, she turned once more to glance up at the space station. The steward’s eyes followed her gazing direction. “Ah, Helios. Definitely does get a lot of visitors attention the first time they see it.”

Rosie turned back to the man. He was still just smiling, giving a nod to the info he’d just relayed. “Helios... Yes, I had forgotten its name. What’s the moon behind it called?” She asked, noticing the heat on her skin. He was right, she’d probably be a bit burnt just from standing here this short amount of time.

“Oh. That’s Elpis. Not too much to see up there. Unless you like moon things...and drilling. Quite a few mining operations up there now days.” He gave another nod to himself. “But, all that’s not too important right now! I was told to get you to the Mailwan sub-quarters as soon as we landed.” He took a step back and motioned for her to head to the parked vehicle.

The back door was opened and she noticed her luggage already packed nicely behind the seats. The inside felt much better than the heavy heat of Pandora. Smelled better too.

“Hm...your driver should be here any minute now.” The young man said with a slight grumble. His broad smile fading for a moment.

“Is it...safe? To be driving out in the open like this, on Pandora?” Rosie asked, before the young man could wonder off again.

A small chuckle escaped him before he quickly composed himself. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” His polite fake smile rising again.

Rosie’s brow arched a bit. “Um...the bandits? We’re not going to get ambushed or something...right?”

“No, no! There’s no bandits in this area. We make sure of that...for the travelers. It’s perfectly safe!” He smiled on, before wishing her a nice ride and closing the door.

Rosie scoffed with a small eye roll. “I was under the impression that no area on Pandora was free of bandits.” Just then, rapid gunfire could be heard in the nearby distance. Looking out of the window, Rosie could see a small group of shirtless men fall over each other as their lifeless bodies hit the sandy ground. A small exhale of a laugh escaped Rosie’s nose. “So much for no bandits.”

Her eyes were pulled from the view of fresh death as a tall, clean shaven man pulled the driver door open and slid into the seat. “Sorry for the wait Ma’am...err, I mean Miss. Had some problems with some undesirables. Ready to go?” He asked, turning as much as he could in his seat to look back at Rosie.

She gave a small nod and a polite smile. Glancing back out of the window, she could see the bodies being drug off by men in the travel hub’s uniform. _Have to keep up appearances,_she supposed.

Already, Rosie could tell that Pandora wasn’t going to be her favorite place to be sent to. That seemed to be the theme of her life. Being sent away to various places by her father. Although, she’d have preferred somewhere less....unfortunate.

The drive to the Maliwan sub-quarters wasn’t too bad. A few swerves to avoid hitting some type of animal that Rosie had never seen before, and the sound of gunfire in the distance - was apparently normal, as the driver had explained. In fact, he admitted that most people would just drive right over the beasts, but he hadn’t...for her sake, and to not damage the more luxurious car. She’d wondered what her father had threatened would happen if the car was even scratched. He was definitely one to keep up appearances.

After being allowed through the large gate - the driver pulled right up to the front steps to the building. Rosie peered out of the window and up at the tall building above them. There had to be at least thirty steps leading up to the main doors. The shorter parts of the building seemed to wrap around both sides of the tallest tower like structure. It looked to be around twenty stories with the others looking to be four...possibly five in some parts. A large Maliwan logo shined brightly against the dark grey building with blue and orange stripes painted in a design to accent the the differing heights. Again, appearances mattered almost more than anything to her father. Even if this was only a sub-quarter for now - it still looked quite large and fancy. As she slid out of her seat and looked around a bit more, she could see small areas of grass, flowers, and various trimmed topiaries. She pondered to herself if any of it was real, they honestly looked too nice to actually be living in this heated desert.

Climbing thirty steps in heels and this heat was something she was going to have to get used to. That, or just never leave the damn building. Probably safer that way. It’s not like she really had anywhere else on this planet to go.

Once through the main doors, the lobby lay before her - open and nicely decorated. Several people hurried along their way, some stood and chatted with others, a few sat alone and drank their coffee - minding their own business.

“I’ll have your luggage taken up to your Penthouse, Miss.” the driver spoke softly, before tipping his hat and heading back to the car.

There was so much to just stand around and look at, but the thought of the meeting jarred Rosie’s thoughts back to the time. She quickly pulled her ECHO device out of her bag.

**3 MISSED CALLS - FATHER**

Rosie made a slight grimace at the reminder of missed calls. She knew her father was probably furious already. The few times she’d spoken to him on a call, before one of these meetings - he was always aggravated and easily annoyed. Today was even more important to him than the usual monthly meeting, and here she was...hopefully not late.

Quickly making her way closer to one of the far walls, to get out of everyone’s way and earshot - she pressed on her father’s contact and opened a call. Several seconds later, the line picked up.

“Where are you!? Have you arrived at the sub-quarter yet?! I told those idiots-“ William’s aged voice sounded just as angry as Rosie had expected.

“Yes, Father. I’m in the lobby. Where should I go?” She asked, cutting his rant off before it could start.

A sigh...or a huff, could be heard. “The elevator, Rose. You need to go up. To floor 10.” With that the call was ended. A usual atmosphere for their conversations. William wasn’t a talkative man, even with his own daughter...or maybe just with her. Rosie was under no impression that her father was fond of her, maybe he loved her as his own...but the affection ended there.

Once in the elevator, a few people shuffled around - each pressing the button to the floor they needed. One after the other exited the elevator, until it was just Rosie and a couple others. Floor 10 arrived, and one man stepped off. Over his shoulder, Rosie could see her father - arms crossed and leaning against the half-wall that divided the area from the elevator. His eyes locked on to hers as he stepped forward, grabbing on to her arm and nearly yanking her out of the elevator.

“What took so long?!” He whisperingly snapped as the two of them briskly walked through people. “Do you know how important these meetings are? Today especially? What kind of impression do you expect to give off by being late to your very first one? It was set to start nearly ten minutes ago!” He began digging in his pocket, then pulled out his sleek, lit up and vibrating ECHO device. “What?! What is it?!” He snapped again, not as quiet this time. “Who!?” Rosie noticed his eyes widen a bit at whatever he was hearing in his ear. “Why today?! He hasn’t been to one of these in- Yes, I’m almost there. I had to find my _daughter_. ...Just tell them that I’m almost there, damnit!” The device was quickly shoved back into his pocket with a huff.

“What’s wrong?” Rosie asked, noticing the very obvious aggravation fuming from her father - still keeping up with his rather brisk pace.

“That goddamned Hyperion Jackass is here.” He grunted.

Rosie’s brow creased. “I’m sorry...I don’t-“

“The CEO of Hyperion. The newest one. He took over some time after you left for boarding-school.” He snapped, cutting her off. “He hasn’t come to one of these meetings in over a year, and now he shows up! Right around the time that the new investors are coming to check things out. He probably just wanted to see what I’ve been doing down here on this god-forsaken planet. _His planet_, he calls it.” With a roll of his eyes he made a snarling expression. His pace slowed as the two neared a pair of large doors, and he pulled Rosie aside. “Just let me do all of the taking. If someone addresses you, then respond...but do not make me look bad. ...and just ignore that Hyperion idiot. He has a way of...getting under people’s skin. Just come in when I call for you.” With a sigh and quick adjustment to his tie - William turned and opened one of the doors to the meeting room. Rosie followed behind, staying right outside the open door for now.

As William entered, several jabs at how late he was and the usual “ah, so you decided to join us after all!” could be heard.

William let out a very faked chuckle. “Yes, yes. My apologies. I’m here now, so we can get started.” The sound of chairs rolling up to the large table could be heard - the sounds of papers being shifted and ECHO devices clattering on the glass top. Then William’s voice again. “Ah, Jack. I must say I’m surprised to see you here. It’s been quite awhile.”

Rosie could hear the pleasant faked tone of her father’s voice, with a hint of irritation. The next voice that spoke up didn’t sound like the usual old, stuffy CEO or executive she’d grown up hearing. This voice was strong and younger sounding. Not too young, it didn’t sound un-matured - but it definitely had a tinge of self-assurance in it. A smoothness that held just a bit of an edge. Rosie could instantly tell, at least partially, why her father didn’t like this man. Just from his voice and tone alone, she could tell that he wasn’t like her father, and she knew William disliked men who went against the proper way of doing things - or rather, the way he thought things ought to be done.

“Well, ole’ Willy...I figured I’d come down to this shit-hole planet myself and see what you’d done with the place. Gotta say, I’m a bit impressed. The uh...the fake grass outside? Nice touch.” The voice prodded with a hint of laughter.

It wasn’t often that Rosie heard someone speak to her father any way other than “Yes sir, or no sir!” She couldn’t help but smirk to herself in the hallway.

The voice began speaking again. “...but what I’d like to know is... why have such a fancy facility down here...when you hardly ever pull your ass outta your little chair on Dionysus? You plan on running this big ole’ place from way out there?”

Rosie heard her father clear his throat. Obviously trying to keep from sounding too annoyed. “Actually that is one of the reasons I decided to have this meeting here today. As you all know, or at least most of you should... My daughter has finally finished all of her schooling and will be taking her place in the company. For now, she will be my lead executive assistant - being positioned at this sub-quarter ...until the time that she will take over for me.” A brief moment of silence passed before he began again. “In fact, she’s here today. Come on in, Rose.”

With a deep breath, Rosie turned the corner of the doorway and stepped into the room. Her eyes quickly scanned over the many eyes of chubby, stuffy, old men. Not a single other woman sat at the table - a couple stood next to some men, obviously they were just the assistants. Rosie’s eyes moved around the table until they fell on the man sitting at the far back, left side. His attire didn’t match that of everyone else. He looked much more casual. His suit jacket was open with a yellow t-shirt underneath, not tucked into his pants - as he leaned back in the chair, his arms folded behind his head. His dark brown hair, with the beginnings of grey streaks running though, was styled and seemed to swoop perfectly into place. A few metal pieces looked to hold a slightly lighter colored mask on his face, but it didn’t move like a mask would. It seemed almost like a second skin. A smug, sultry grin could be seen rise on his lips, as one of his brows arched a bit more. His piercing gaze was locked on Rosie - starting at her face and working its way down slowly. She then noticed the different eyes. One blue, and one green. Both incredibly striking, almost seeming to be lit up with perfect lighting. Even if his shirt didn’t have the large Hyperion logo across the chest, Rosie imagined she could’ve guessed exactly who this oddly intriguing man was. So it wasn’t just his voice that stood out. Everything about this man was different than she would’ve expected of a CEO - definitely different than her Father’s idea of a perfect business man.

To admit to herself that she’d been lost in this stranger’s features enough, that she hadn’t even heard her father introduce her to the entire room - was rather annoyingly difficult. One thing that Rosie definitely could do, was be on point when she needed to be. Especially in business situations. However, this man had caught her a bit off guard. The smug expression on his face as he had unabashedly gazed over her body - paired with the rather obvious look of approval he gave before looking back to his ECHO device in-hand. His eyes had left her, yet hers remained locked on him for several seconds before her father’s words and hand had motioned for her to sit next to him - successfully pulling her back into reality.

_How odd_...Rosie thought to herself as she took her seat at the head of the table, next to William. She’d heard little about the Hyperion CEO while in University. The stories she had heard seemed more like fan-service and wild theories. She’d heard he was Handsome, but hadn’t realized that he actually used the term as a name. Idle gossip was frowned upon, and talking during class wasn’t allowed...therefore, the few stories that Rosie had heard of the various companies CEO’s never seemed to stick in her mind. As a way of keeping bullying and possible murder to a minimum, the students were told not to talk about what company they were affiliated with. Of course, occasionally there would be a story of some kid getting beaten up because they ran their mouth a little too much, or someone bragging about how high up their parent was in a company. It was all irrelevant. With how expensive each child’s tuition was, everyone’s parent had to be at least a branch lead or executive. Keeping the secret of being the heir to an entire company was at times, difficult. However, the backlash that would surely ensue if the secret had gotten out...would’ve been far worse. With the surname of Maliwan, the secret would never have been a secret. Instead, Rosie had been enrolled in boarding school and university with a fake last name. Some of the faculty knew, but the students were none the wiser.

Rosie listened to the various topics that were brought up during the first hour of the meeting. Most of which, she’d never even heard of before. She’d have to read up on her father’s reports before the next one...next month. At least she had time. Luckily, not all of the mentioned topics sounded dreadfully boring. There were several that peeked her interest immediately.

When the topic of her was finally opened up - William spoke for her and explained that she would be learning from him for the foreseeable future. Until she was ready enough to take on a lager role. A few snickers and “Mhmm’s” could be heard. It was obvious that she wouldn’t be taken too seriously for awhile. Of course, Rosie had expected just that. She was just the young daughter of the man who owned the company. Fresh out of school and never really being spoken about before today. It wasn’t like she’d _earned_ any of this, she was born into it. She’d inherit the company whether she wanted to or not. To these men, she was just a naive rich girl, who had no idea of the business of running a company. It annoyed her that they weren’t entirely wrong.

Sure, she’d learned the fundamentals and had quite literally grown up around this her entire life, but she couldn’t honestly say she knew very much about this galaxy as a whole, and the little happenings going on in it. She didn’t know which planets tended to have higher profits for which companies, or even which CEO in this very room held the highest profits on average. Rosie’s resolve began to feel a bit cracked as she realized all of these things. There was definitely quite a lot that she needed to read up on before next month’s meeting.

As the clamor of several voices were hushed by a metal mug slamming down on the glass table’s (thankfully) thick surface - a man continued on with his spill. “-...as I was saying. If you’re going to try and hold another one of these large parties to bring in more investors...you have to expect that rival companies may win them over before you. With the heads of the companies being invited as well, it’s fair game. You can’t just shoot every investor that doesn’t side with you and your company.”

A few opposing voices rose up again, met with the agreements of others. Some stayed quiet, keeping whatever opinion they had to themselves.

“Pretty sure...that I can shoot whoever the hell I want....and no body do a thing about it.” Rosie’s eyes rose up to meet the voice talking. The smug expression that painted itself so well on that chiseled face, taking its place as he spoke. “I mean, what’re they gonna do? Bring the friggin guy back to life?” A snorting chuckle escaped the man’s grin. “I don’t think so. Then again, I guess I don’t have to worry about investors and such. Ya know, since I’m filthy fuckin’ rich.” As the last word left his lips, his eyes moved to take their gaze to Rosie, giving a quick wink and a perfectly devilish smirk.

Rosie felt her heart give a quick flutter at the gesture - nonchalantly looking back down to the notes she’d been taking, appearing to be uninterested in the charm. _He has a way of getting under people skin_. William’s words stuck out now. He definitely did, but Rosie would be damned if she’d be that easily addled. This man obviously believed he was quite something, but Rosie had never been one to allow people to think that they had any sway over her. Other than her father, of course...

“Yes, Jack-..” William’s words were cut short as a security guard burst into the room. “Can you not see that we are in the middle of a-“

“I’m sorry for the interruption, Mr. Maliwan, sir! But there’s been a breach of the building!” The man quickly spat out.

“A breach?! What do you mean? Where?! By whom?!” William snapped back, now standing to his feet to face the man.

“Bandits sir! They’re storming the tower’s lower floors!”

“How the hell did they-“

William’s yelling voice was cut off just as the lighting of the room disappeared. A shrill squeal could be heard from one of the men’s assistants as it sounded like she cowered under the glass table. A few seconds later, the emergency lights flickered on - casting a dull red glow over the room. William grabbed the armored vest of the guard and pulled him closer. Closing the distance between their faces. “Get those damn lights back on! And get those bandits out of my building!”

The guard quickly “Yes sir’d!” and tore from the room. The sound of screams could be heard in the distance, along with a few gunshots. “These doors aren’t bullet proof! We need to get to a more secure area!” William spoke up. “Go through that door in the back and head down the hall, then follow me! And get that woman out from under the desk, for god’s sake!”

One of the portly, older men was the first to the door, swinging it open and trotting down the hallway as his assistant ran behind him. The rest followed about the same way. William squeezed out with the first few people to lead the way, leaving Rosie with a couple of the assistants and the Hyperion CEO - as he held the door open. The last two women squeezed out of the door at the same time and ran to squish into the rest of the group further down the hallway.

“After you.” Jack’s smooth voice oozed out of his smirking lips as he looked down at Rosie. His hand motioned for her to go ahead as he continued holding the heavy wooden door open. His sleeve pulled up just enough for her to notice part of a blue tattoo. She didn’t allow her eyes to linger long, stepping through the door and looking towards the quickly moving group as the last person rounded the left corner. The door behind her shut, and she could hear the footfalls of the man following behind her. As she rounded the corner, she could see the group herding into one of the safer rooms ahead. Only one entrance, and easier to hide in, since it wasn’t on the main hallway. The footfalls behind her began to grow quieter. Rosie quickly glanced back, coming to a complete stop as she realized that the Hyperion CEO was no longer behind her. Her eyes scanned the darkened hallway, but there was nothing. He was gone.

“Rose!”

Rosie turned back to see her father standing outside of the door and motioning for her to come on. She hurried over, nearly stepping into the room before William stopped her.

“Wait. Where is that Hyperion bastard?”

“I don’t know. He must’ve turned down the other hallway. He was right behind me, and then-“

William let out a growling sigh. “This is probably his handiwork. Unleash bandits into my building so that he can have free range to wander around.” He turned back from scowling down the empty hallway. “This could be good though. Here, take this.” Rosie’s eyes widened as her father slipped a small Maliwan pistol into her hands. “He’s one of our biggest rivals, Rose...and one of the biggest pains in my ass. Find him, and kill him. Everyone will think some bandit did it, and I won’t have to deal with that asshole anymore.”

“Are you serious?!” Rosie whisperingly exclaimed. “What about the bandits?”

“If you would go quickly then you won’t have to worry about them. Now go!” He snapped as he turned her around and pushed her along.

Rosie didn’t hesitate. If this was something she was being told to do, then it would be best to do so before the bandits made it this far.

She removed her heels, leaving them on the floor against the wall. Quieter this way. Although her nylon stockings made it a tad more slippery than walking barefoot would’ve. She didn’t have time to disrobe every inconvenience though.

Quickly, but silently, Rosie made her way down the other hallway that she was sure he had disappeared in to. She’d been trained to listen for any sign of movement or sound. There was nothing. She turned another corner walking slowly down the dark hallway. A few dim, red emergency lights lit up a few doorways here and there, but hardly enough to do anything other than make the overall appearance of the dark halls seem more eerie.

With the pistol at the ready, Rosie crept down the next quiet hall. There were two sets of doors left. One set at the very end of the hall, and the other just a few feet before it. The first pair of doors were set in a bit, allowing a perfect place to hide from view. Rosie knew she hadn’t heard the sound of any doors - so he had to be there. Hiding just behind the small bit of wall.

Just a few inches from the doors, and she quickly turned the small corner - gun aimed...right at the smug bastard’s face. She couldn’t help but smile to herself. _Easy_, she thought.

“Hiding?” Rosie questioned with a bit of pride in her tone.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not...but this entire place is being overran with bandits and psychos and since I’d prefer to leave here alive...yeah, I decided to hide.“ strangely, the amount of sass in his tone didn’t strike as much of a nerve as it usually would when someone spoke to her that way. 

“Then why spilt up? Instead of going with everyone to a safer room?” Her brow arched - gun still aimed. 

A sarcastic chuckle escaped the cornered man. “And what? Be stuck with all of those assholes? No thanks. I’m better off finding my own way out, than being trapped like a skag.”

Rosie’s brow creased at the unrecognized name. Her mind frantically began trying to recall what exactly a _skag_ was.

The tall man let out a humored puff of air from his nose - nearly chuckling as he spoke. “Oh, right. Sorry. A _skag_. It’s this creepy ass creature...dog thing...whose mouth opens up all weird...and actually, I don’t really know how to describe what a skag is. It’s nothing special. Another one of Pandora’s wonderful life forms. ...and by wonderful, I mean it sucks. Just like everything else here.”

Rosie’s eyes had only narrowed at the rather oddly given explanation. She still couldn’t recall an image of a skag, but that was hardly the thing of importance at the moment.

“Well... I guess it was probably a smart idea for such a _well known_ and _filthy rich_ CEO...I doubt they’d kill you at first though. They’d probably try to ransom you.”

Rosie watched his eyes as they poured over her entire body once more.

“Funny you’d say that. Don’t think they wouldn’t do the same to you? The Maliwan CEO’s daughter? Oh, kitten...probably best you followed me to hide with, instead of staying with ole’ daddy. Get both of you, and they’d be rolling in the credits” The grin that played on his lips showed his amusement at the situation. The gun aimed at his head not even seeming to phase him.

“I didn’t follow you hide.” Rosie plainly responded, not giving him the satisfaction of playing along with his teasing.

“Um, then why _did_ you follow me? Wanted to get to know me a little better, while out of daddy’s sight?” His brow had arched again, giving off a look of pure flirtatious intent.

“The plan was to kill you. Before anyone else could, or before you escaped. Make it look like one the bandits did it. Easy way to take you out of the game.” Rosie allowed a smug smirk to rise in the corner of her lips. Unlocking the safety of the gun with a flick of her finger.

Jack’s lips curved into more of smile. “Ah. Well, if that was your plan...Then why haven’t you gone through with it yet?”

Rosie’s smirk faltered. The realization just now hitting that she could’ve shot this man at any second since she’d found him. Strangely, she’d been more interested in what he’d had to say...even if it was just spouting nonsense about skags and their strange mouths. “It...wasn’t _my_plan.” The words fell from her lips without her planning on even saying them...but there they were. The expression on Jack’s face turned to one of even more amusement. 

“Oh, I see.” He smiled, showing off his pearly whites. “So, _daddy_ sent you kill me, huh?”

Rosie remained quiet, keeping the gun in place. He noticed the slight dip of her gaze, and had his answer. Jack let out another chuckle. “Well, sweet-cheeks...” Before Rosie could even comprehend what was happening - Jack’s hands had grabbed the gun, dropping it to the ground at his feet and wrapped the other around her throat - turning and pushing her back against the wall. “If you’re going to shoot someone, ya gotta pull the trigger. However, if you were to fire that pistol in this hallway...every bandit on this floor would hear it and come straight for you. That, is why it helps to have other ways to kill someone.” His grip tightened a bit around her neck. “Heh...you’re so tiny. I can nearly wrap my entire hand around your throat. It’d be so easy...” His fingers gave a small squeeze, drawing out a tiny gasp from Rosie’s lips. The devilish grin on his lips turned purely seductive as his eyes raked over the woman in his grasp. “Mm...you look good like this, princess. What? Not gonna fight back?”

Rosie could feel the pressure of his grasp, but he wasn’t breaking off her airflow...at all. Like he knew exactly where to press to drive her adrenaline sky-high, while still allowing her to breath nearly normally. It was almost a rush of arousal more than fear. Looking into his heterochromatic eyes, and seeing his seductive stare while he slowly licked his lips. Rosie could feel her pulse quickening, and her breaths becoming deeper.

So could he.

“Well look at you, kitten. Not as much of a good girl as I thought you were.” His voice had dipped lower, a soft purr now. His hand let go of its grasp around Rosie’s neck - instead moving to feel the sheer fabric of her scarf. Rosie’s eyes stayed locked into the man’s eyes above her - her head still tilted up to look at him. His fingers wrapped around the fabric and pulled Rosie against him - perfectly pressing their lips together, as his other hand cupped her head. His tongue slid across her bottom lip and quickly gained the entrance he desired. Rosie’s hands had come up to grip at his firm upper arms. She could feel the taut muscles beneath the obviously expensive fabric of his suit. The skill this man kissed with was unlike any other she’d ever experienced. She was breathless and bubbly all together. Her mind was becoming so lost in the feel of this strange man’s lips, she hardly felt the scarf be pulled from around her neck.

Almost as soon as the kiss had begun, Jack’s lips pulled away from hers as he turned - moving his arms up swiftly and wrapping the scarf around the neck of a psycho appearing from around the corner, and pulling it tight against the exposed skin.

The shirtless man in a mask began grabbing at the arms and hands of whoever was attacking him from behind - his legs flailing as his booted feet stomped at the hard floor. Rosie could hear the grunts and crazed mumblings of the man as he gasped for air. Her widened eyes moved up to look at Jack. Save for the muscles in his forearms bulging from the pure strength it must be taking to hold this flailing Psycho - he looked calm. His brow barely creasing, his lips curved up in slight exertion.

After a few moments, the man’s body finally went limp. His arms falling to his sides as his knees gave out - only being held up by the scarf still around his neck. Jack unwrapped it in a eased motion, letting the body fall to the floor. His gaze turned back to Rosie, as he held the scarf out to her.

“Thanks.” He said, still standing over the lifeless man.

Rosie hesitantly took the scarf from his hand, glancing back down to the Psycho. “Is he...is he dead?”

Jack looked back down, casually nudging the man with his yellow and black sneaker. “Eh...well he’s not breathing...sooo...yeah. I’d say he’s dead.”

Rosie nodded back, taking in a breath. “Well. If this was all you were going for, you could’ve just asked.” She said, motioning with the scarf as she replaced it around her neck.

A smirk rose on Jack’s lips. “Wasn’t all I was going for.” He winked and turned the corner, heading for the double doors at the end of the hall.

Rosie quickly followed after, grabbing the pistol from the floor. “Where are you going?”

“Like I said earlier. I’m getting the hell outta here ...and, before another Psycho shows up and wants to eat my eyeballs or wear my face as a skin pizza.” His tone didn’t sound joking. _Wait, is he serious_? Rosie thought as she tried to keep up.

“A...what?” She asked, getting next to Jack, and keeping his pace...even though she had to take at least twice the amount of steps he did.

“What? A skin-“ He began chuckling to himself again. “Oh god, it is just _way_ too funny to see non-Pandorans hear about things that are from this big ball of shit planet.” He shook his head a little, coming to a stop in the middle of a hallway, and pulling his ECHO device out of his inner suit pocket to look at something. Rosie could only see part of it, but it appeared to be a map. Jack clicked it off, and slid it back into its pocket - glancing back down to Rosie. “Well. This has been fun. We’ll have to do it again sometime, but...my rides here. So-“ Jack’s head tilted to the double doors nearest them.

“What do you mean your ride is here? We’re on the tenth floor...” Rosie’s brow furrowed.

“Yup, and through those doors is an outside sitting area. Large balcony, if you’d prefer. See ya later, Princess.” His brow bounced as he turned, pulling one of the doors open and heading through.

Rosie quickly hurried over, catching the door before it could close behind him. Sure enough, a small Hyperion shuttle floated right at the edge of the railed sitting area. Ten stories up. “Wait!” Rosie yelled, grabbing Jack’s attention as he hoisted himself over the railing and grabbed onto the open doorway of the shuttle.

He turned his gaze on her, holding his hand up to the pilot to stay put.

“Was all of this your doing? Did you plan for those bandits to be here so that you could sneak around the building?” Rosie spoke up over the hum of the shuttle’s engine.

Jack’s brow rose before falling back into place, an actual laugh bursting from him. “Are you serious? Hell no! You think I would lower myself to working with bandit _scum_?” His words still being trailed with small bits of laughter.

“I have no idea...I don’t even know you. I only barely know who you are!” The wind whipped at her red-orange curls, blowing strands of them against her face. _  
_

_“_Well, we’ll just have to change that...won’t we?” Jack purred back, giving one last wink before stepping back into the doorway of the shuttle as it closed.

Rosie watched as it rose a bit and quickly flew out of sight around the building. .._What an exit... _she thought to herself.

-

The lights flickered back on as Rosie neared the door to the room the group had huddled into. The door burst open, and out came the rather disgruntled looking CEO’s, reps, and assistants. Rosie stood to the side, out of their way. One of the assistants glanced up at her with a little smirk on her lips. She stepped over to Rosie, leaning closer to whisper before quickly walking off again. “You may want to fix your hair, if you don’t want people to know what you and the Hyperion CEO were doing.”

Rosie’s mouth fell open to explain that, that was definitely not what had happened...but the woman had snickered to herself and turned to scamper back to her boss’s side. Rosie eyes just narrowed after her, as she began putting hairs back where they should be.

“Well?” Her father’s voice startled her from behind, causing a little jump. “Is he dead?”

Rosie allowed herself a small eye roll along with a sigh as she pushed past her father. “No. He left.”

“What!? What do you mean, he left?” William snapped back. Luckily, the hallway was empty now, save for the two of them.

“He left the building. I found him, but some bandit came out of nowhere...and he killed it. Then, he left... besides, if I would’ve shot this, then it would’ve alerted every bandit on this floor.” Rosie pushed the gun back into her father’s hands.

William let out a sigh. “...fine. We’ll just have to try again at som-“

“Try again?!” Rosie spun back around, facing her father once more. “What’s your problem with him? Aren’t all of those guys just as much of a rival as he is?”

“Ha. Hardly. Tediore doesn’t sell half of what we do, and Dahl hardly even tries to compete. The other’s...well other than Atlas, profits aren’t nearly as threatening as Hyperion’s are. On top of that, the man himself is what I can’t stand. He thinks he’s so much better than everyone else because he’s _beyond_ rich and owns most of the eridium mines. He’s arrogant, and a poor excuse for a real business man. As I said before, this was probably all his doing.”

“It wasn’t.” Rosie spoke up flatly. “I asked him. He said he’d never lower himself to working with bandit scum. Maybe the bandits just saw all of the nice cars driving in and decided to attack while security was distracted.”

William stayed quiet, before letting out a small huff. “I’m leaving this planet. Go see your new office. If you need me, you know how to reach me.” He turned away and stormed down the hall, heading for the executive elevator - leaving Rosie to think about everything that had just happened. 


	2. Ch. 2

Rosie stood, waiting for the next elevator. Her father had already taken the previous one down and left the building - deciding waiting on her to follow was too long of a wait. A few people passed by, making their way back to their posts after the bandit raid. A few glanced at her, probably wondering why she was using the executive elevator. The doors slid open with a small ding. Thankfully, it was empty. Rosie stepped in and pressed the top button on the panel - before leaning to the side to let her aching head rest against the cool metal wall.

“So much for a calm first day,” she mumbled to herself, letting her eyes close for the ride up the tower. She knew she’d be seeing the interesting view of every floor of the tower through the rounded glass elevator everyday - so she decided to let her eyes close for now. After this morning...she just wanted to curl up in a dark room and not open them until tomorrow.

The ding of arrival chimed as the round door slid to the side. Walking out of the elevator, Rosie was graced with the naturally-lit, open walkway lined with windows on one side - overlooking the large courtyard and entrance of the sub-quarter nearly 20 stories below. Being this high up, she could see the sands of Pandora, the odd cliffs that jutted out in the distance, and high up in the sky - with a perfect backdrop - Helios. The bright blue sky dulled the moon’s colors, almost making it look ghostly. The thought of seeing it at night brought a bit of excitement to Rosie - a small smile developing on her lips.

She turned from the windows and walked further down the walkway. Being at the top, it was smaller than the lower floors, but with much higher ceilings. Nearly every outer wall was lined with reinforced windows, and every corner was round, instead of squared off. The design of the building had been done to withstand the winds and sand of the desert lands, while still shining and looking regal.

Around the corner at the end of the walkway, sat a decent sized open room. A large closed-in desk area sat in the corner - a few couches and end tables sat in the opposite one. Between the two, on the far wall, was a large set of double doors. A young woman, who appeared to barely be in her twenties, sat at the large desk. There had to be enough room for three or four other people to comfortably work behind the wrap around, counter-like desk..however, here she was, alone. She looked up with a smile as Rosie stepped in though the large archway. Standing up quickly, and shooting her hand out towards Rosie, she introduced herself.

“Hi! You must be Miss Rose. Your father has told me a little about you, but I’m so eager to get to know you as time goes on!” Her smile hadn’t faded, and her hand still held out expectantly.

Rosie stepped closer and took her hand, allowing for a nice handshake from the chipper girl.

“I prefer Rosie. Only my father calls me Rose.” Rosie smiled softly back, giving a humored eye roll. “And I apologize for not knowing, but you are?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! I’m a nobody anyway. My name is Holly. I’ll be your...well, your secretary, basically. I’ll handle everything you need me to do, and keep people from bugging you!“ Holly continued smiling as she sat back down and continued typing on her computer. “Go ahead and get yourself acquainted with your office. I’ll be here!”

Rosie headed over to the doors, twisting the large knob and pushing the heavy wooden door open. Her father had had wood imported from the Edens, to mimic the wood he adored from their Dionysus home so much. It looked nice, and definitely stood out from the usual Pandoran look.

As she stepped though, the room opened up into what was now _her_ office. The ceilings were two floors worth, high. The walls around the L shaped room were lined with half high bookshelves. Nearly all the shelves were full. Of real books! This brought a smile to her lips. It’d been awhile since she’d seen so many books outside of the old family mansion. On a small raised level, only a couple steps up, sat a large wooden desk. Floral designs and swirls etched and carved into its walls, reminded her again of her old home. A couple of chairs sat in front of it. To the left and back down the steps sat a golden/brass spiral staircase. Above it was the lofted area, leading to her personal penthouse. A small half-bathroom sat next to the entrance of the office. The two walls nearest the desk were adorned with large windows above the bookshelves. A couple plants sat on the shelve’s tops, soaking up the light pouring in. It definitely looked homey. Almost familiar, in a way.

The blue and orange of Maliwan decorated the walls not covered in large windows, and the floor was the same slate grey metal as the rest of the building. A large round blue rug sat nicely under her desk.

Rosie slumped down into the cushioned desk chair, resting her head against its tall back. The light poured in from Pandora’s bright sun, glowing through her closed eye-lids. It was definitely going to take some time to get used to Pandora’s day and night cycle. Especially during the times she’d be sleeping in full sunlight.

She let her eyes pry open as she glanced out at the blue sky. From here, the only things she could see were a few clouds, some flying creatures that she didn’t recognize, then the moon with its constant H shaped companion. Rosie began to wonder if her father had designed this spot to be able to watch Helios. To make sure whoever sat here would always be ready, if Hyperion ever decided to launch something this way.

With that thought, Rosie turned to her computer. William had already had it set it up to be ready for her use. She tapped on the ECHONET and began researching all of the things she didn’t know about this planet, the corporation floating above it....and that damned smug CEO.

A few hours passed by without so much as a notice. There was so much Rosie had never even heard of. Stories, vids, and news articles that told so much of this planet’s history. Related link, after link, eventually led to the Hyperion Corporation and its colorful history. This Jack guy, hadn’t been CEO for all that long. A few years short of a decade. After the previous president _mysteriously_ died....due to being murdered. Rosie knew it was common for these big companies to be filled with murder. Her own family had been the target many times throughout her life.

However, it was interesting that this _Handsome Jack_ didn’t seem to mind everyone knowing he’d killed to get the top spot. Maybe he wanted it that way, so people knew not to mess with him. The way the other company leads had acted during the meeting _did_ seem to go along with that. Rosie had noticed that no one interrupted him when he was talking, even if it was about something that wasn’t even relevant - while they’d interject their own thoughts on any of the other men. She hadn’t thought too much about it then, but now...it made sense that these other men were _threatened_ by him.

Rosie’s search then fell on the man himself. The official Hyperion personnel page listed him as:

**Name: **Handsome Goddamn Jack**  
**

**Age: **Omitted****

**DOB: **Omitted

**Place of Birth: **Tantalus.**  
**

**Title: **CEO/Owner/President of The Hyperion Corporation. Duh. **  
**

**Marital Status: **Single ;)

Rosie’s brow arched as she read what had to have been written or told by the man himself.

A small bit of extra info on another page, led to the information that he used to work for Hyperion as a programmer, slept with and/or killed anyone he so desired, and was incredibly wealthy largely due to his Eriduim mining operations, and the now high profits of Hyperion.

This man just was definitely unlike anyone she’d ever encountered before. So mysterious, yet seemed to flaunt nearly everything about himself. Smug, and arrogant...yet covers his real face. _That strange mask....it didn’t feel like a mask_.. Her fingers rose to her lips, lightly tracing where his lips and tongue had been only hours before. Rosie shook the memory from her head, quickly exiting out of the ECHONET. With a huff, she stood and made her way upstairs. It was time for a nap, a long one.

-

The first few weeks passed by easily. As she’d expected, her father handled anything that was worth handling. Rosie basically sat in her office, reading reports, and making sure operations on Pandora were running smoothly. Holly had been a small high in this low feeling position. She was nice and hard working. She would chime in with jokes and laughs about William, with Rosie. Always making sure to never cross the line when it came to the topic of the old man. Rosie didn’t mind, it was nice to finally have someone to gripe about her father to.

It was only when her father began constantly reminding her of the upcoming multi-company meeting in a week, that the general atmosphere started becoming more stressed. It was to be held by Dahl this month, on a small station floating above some moon that she’d never heard of. Orbiting the planet of Hestias. The military side of Dahl hardly joined these meetings. It was always just the weapons department lead. Either way, William had been demanding that Rosie get there early and to make a good impression. He was still rather annoyed with Rosie after last month’s shit-show. Like it was her fault, that he’d sprung her into a company meeting without giving her time to research. She was ready this time, though. At least, she hoped she was.

-

The day came and Rosie was up, bright and early with coffee in hand, stepping on to the private company shuttle. Her father sat opposite of her, hardly talking other than to occasionally nag/ask if she knew of this, or that. He’d demanded that he come personally to pick her up from Pandora, so that she couldn’t possibly be late this time.

Rosie watched out of the window as the blackness of space rolled by. It would only take about 30 minutes to get to the small Dahl station. She wasn’t too worried about the meeting. It didn’t really matter if all of these old men liked her or not, one day she’d be working right up there with them. The only thought that kept nagging at her, was the Hyperion CEO. _Would he be there his time_? Her father had said he didn’t come to these often, so maybe he wouldn’t be. Part of her hoped for that. To not have to deal with his cockiness...and what if he mentioned that kiss to her father? How would she explain that one? The fact that she hadn’t shot him right then and there...or at least pushed him away. The other part, the part she kept trying to squish down, kind of hoped he’d show. She couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed the way he talked so causally and uncaringly to her father and the other men. He held an air of humor in most things he’d said. Even if she didn’t care much for him, she couldn’t deny that he was interesting.

“Rose? Are you even listening to me?” William snapped, pulling Rosie from her thoughts.

She looked away from the window and back at her father. “Yes, Father. I was- am.”

William narrowed his eyes and let out a small huff through his nostrils. “I said, that we’re here. Stand up, let’s go.”

William stepped down from the low hovering shuttle, re-buttoning his suit jacket and striding his way across the landing platform to a few other men in suits. Rosie stepped out, with the helping hand of one of the shuttle’s attendants. She watched as her father’s hand outstretched to shake each mans’ hand. Each man giving a flat smile and nodding at whatever greeting they were giving. The attendant hopped back onboard and the shuttle rose, slowly leaving to dock elsewhere for the remainder of the meeting.

Rosie stood for a moment, watching it fly around the side of the station. The vast expanse of space, outside of the oxygen dome of the landing dock, blanketed all there was to see. The lights of the station made it difficult to see them clearly, but from here, Rosie could see the stars far off in the distance. For once they were just there, and not zooming away from behind a moving window. This was definitely a view she could fall in love with. Her eyes moved down a bit, noticing the glow from the moon beneath the station. She took a few steps forward, closer to the railing of the platform. Gravity was a bit different up here than she’d gotten used to on Pandora. Each step made her stomach feel like it was floating. She’d giggle at the feeling if she were alone, however...she knew that would just embarrass her father. She wrapped her fingers over the edge of the cool metal bar of the railing, and leaned over a bit to see the moon better. It’s white-blue hue glowed beneath the station - casting the color on every metal surface it could. From here, she couldn’t see the planet that the moon orbited. She wasn’t even sure she knew which planet it was. She couldn’t remember the name her father had mentioned on the way here. Maybe she wasn’t paying as much attention to him as she’d claimed.

From behind, Rosie could still hear her father chatting with the other men. Obviously, oblivious that she wasn’t standing near him. The air was cold, even inside of the oxygen dome. There was a low hum from the stations engines and power supply, but other than the chatter of voices, it was quiet. No weird Pandoran smell, no sound of distant artillery or gunshots warding off bandits. It was nice.

“Don’t fall, Princess.” A familiar voice spoke up from behind. Rosie quickly turned her head to see the man walking up, and coming to a stop next to her.

She looked back to the black, twinkling speckled blanket of space. Avoiding the blue and green eyes that had instantly drawn her gaze to them.

“I don’t think I’d fall.” She sassily began. “Maybe float away...as I suffocate.”

“Well. That got dark.” Jack chuckled - leaning over the railing to glance at the moon below. “You must be fun at parties.”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t go to many parties.” Rosie added. She leaned over a bit, as well. Her eyes flickering to the mask’s clips before quickly looking towards the moon.

“That’s a shame.” Jack’s gaze turned to face Rosie, his lips curving into a smirk once more. “You could always come to one of mine.”

“No, thank you.”

Jack’s brow shot up, seemingly quite surprised at being so bluntly turned down, or being turned down at all. His mouth opened for a moment before closing it again. His smirk grew, as he glanced back out to space. Rosie watched, a bit confused as to why he was smiling at her rather blunt refusal. “Right. Daddy probably wouldn’t let you anyway, huh?” His smirk grew into a grin as he looked forward.

Rosie’s eyes narrowed, her smug grin falling into a straight line.

“My father doesn’t contr-“

“Rose!” William called out from behind her, pulling her attention from Jack.

Rosie turned her head to see her father motion with his fingers for her to come. His expression flattened, his lips drawn into a thin line.

“Daddy’s calling, better go.” Jack sassily pestered, glancing over to Rosie with just his eyes. His grin still plastered on his face.

Rosie stayed put for another moment, wanting to throw some rebuke back at his smug face - but was stopped as she heard her father clear his throat. She huffed and turned from Jack. Her father stood, looking between her and Jack as she made her way across the platform.

William’s hand wrapped around her arm tightly as he turned and began walking with her.

“What the hell are you doing? What did he want?” He hushidly snapped as they walked.

“I was just looking at the moon. He came over. He didn’t want anything. He was there for maybe a minute.” Rosie huffed back.

“What did he say to you?”

“He just made a dumb joke about not falling off. Why?”

“He’s trying to worm his way into you. That’s what he does. I should’ve known he’d show up this month too, now that he’s met you.” William’s eyes rolled as he huffed out his words.

“I have no interest in him, father. It’ll take more than his attempted charms and money to get to me.” Rosie grumbled back in response.

“It’s irrelevant. Just ignore him.”

Rosie couldn’t help her eyes from rolling. She knew it wasn’t fatherly love or protection that William was speaking through. He was worried that Jack was trying to get his hands on Maliwan. If he could win Rosie over - once William died...Jack could have it all. At least, that what he was thinking. There was no way that would ever happen. From what all Rosie had read about the Hyperion man, he wasn’t the marrying type. Even if it was for profit. Even worse, he seemed to believe that Rosie would _easily_ fall for Jack. For once, if she hadn’t known any better, it would’ve seemed like her father actually cared for her well-being...but no. It was always about the company. That was his true child in his eyes.

The meeting went about the same as the previous one had. Expect for the interruption of bandits. Occasionally, Rosie would glance up to see those heterochromatic looking back at her. Maybe her father was right on at least part of it. Jack definitely did seem to be interested in getting Rosie’s attention on him. All the more reason for her to ignore him more.

-

As the next couple of months rolled by, Rosie grew more comfortable in her position on Pandora. She was now recognized by the employees and from various things she’d heard, they were far more eager to work for her, than her father. She wasn’t too surprised. She knew what it was like to be bossed around by him.

The multi-company meetings had begun to be a way of keeping track of time, in a sense. After each one, Rosie had three more weeks to get everything finished that she needed to - before the next one. They had also started to be something she looked forward to. She’d given some ideas for bettering Maliwan’s patent on Corrosion elemental damage, and surprisingly, was allowed to pitch it to the rest of the companies. It had gone well, and had gained her a bit more acceptance in the board room. She’d rather enjoyed the feeling of praise from the various men that sat around the table - saying that _her_ idea was actually a good one. Although, she hated the feeling of excitement she got, seeing Jack’s smile and approval. She didn’t care what he thought. She _definitely_ wasn’t trying to show off that she wasn’t just “_daddy’s little assistant_”.

_-_

The bright Pandoran sun shined through the large windows - casting rays of golden light through the quiet office. The beams of golden sunlight slowly danced across the room as the day ticked on. Rosie had grown to enjoy the warm glow that her office would take on during these long days, but the nights were by far her favorite. With Pandora’s _long_ daytimes and shorter nights, it was a bit of a treat to be at her desk when the sun’s light would slowly sink away. She could look up and see the yellows, pinks, and blues painted across the sky as it slowly darkened into night. The stars would begin to appear - making the night’s sky sparkle. The purple glow from Elpis didn’t quite reach Pandora, but it shined wonderfully nonetheless - with Helios’s many lights twinkling and never failing to draw Rosie’s gaze.

Rosie sat at her desk, reading over the topics to be addressed in this week’s meetings. Pandoran R&D team had had some new ideas for faster fire rate that hadn’t gone so well during testing, and were now trying to find a way to stop irradiating the wielder. Actions had to be taken about workers compensation, and medical treatment. Another, was with the accounting department. Maliwan’s profits were doing well, but how could they improve by at least 20% by the years end? Rosie began to learn why her father despised trying to keep up with Hyperion’s profits.

William had allowed some leniency after Rosie had shown herself to be more competent than he’d expected. For now, he had his marketing and accounting teams working on the Pandoran base of operations. He claimed it was to give Rosie a chance to prove herself, but she had a feeling it was due to the fact that Pandora was closer to the action and other companies than Dionysus was.

Rosie’s ECHO began to buzz. Glancing down, she saw her father’s name lit up on its screen. She scooted it closer and tapped the screen to accept the call. Her father’s face appeared. From the background, she could see that he was sitting at his desk in his office.

“I have a little job for you to do, Rose.”

-

“_A little job_, my ass.” Rosie huffed as she looked at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. She could hardly recognize the woman looking back at her. Bright blonde wig, glasses, and far more exaggerated make up than she usually wore. “Just waltz on to Helios and act like you work there. Sure, _dad_. Shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not like I haven’t, ya know, _ever_ been on the damn station before or anything.” Rosie took a deep breath and slowly let it back out - returning the brush she’d been angrily brushing the wig with, to the tabletop. One last look-over, and everything seemed as good as it was going to get. It’s not like anyone on Helios would know who she was anyway, but a disguise was called for nonetheless.

The plan was to board Helios, blend in as much as possible, if needed... use the new hacking tool Maliwan had been working on that finally passed all of its tests, and get into Hyperion’s systems or possibly the R&D department to steal anything that could be useful.

When her father had first pitched the idea to her, Rosie was quite surprised that he was now lowering himself to stealing from Hyperion.

“_I’d prefer to just take the bastard out once and for all, but if there’s a chance we could steal something useful first - then I think it’s worth a try. Jack hints at plenty of his new toys all of the time. If we can finish them before his teams can, then it’ll look like he copied us. Even if it’s just info, blackmail, or anything. I want you to take it_. _We need a leg up if we’re going to keep getting investors_.”

This idea hardly seemed thought through well enough, and yet, she was the one having to do it. Rosie could understand why her father couldn’t. He was slower and weaker. Everyone would recognize him, even in a disguise. Besides that, Helios was bound to have high levels of security that would easily detect a fellow CEO. It was unlikely that her dna or scans were in Helios’s systems yet.

Either way, she’d be going in through a maintenance access first. The security at the main docking bays would be way too risky to go through.

-

Rosie stepped outside, squinting up towards the moonbase. At least she’d finally get to see what the inside of Helios was like. She’d spent enough time just staring up at it, wondering. Maybe not _all_ of her youthful wanderlust had been grown out of.

A small private shuttle from the travel agency slowly lowered to the ground in front of her. Her father had rented one, since all of the ones the company owned were branded with the Maliwan logo. It was definitely not as nice as the company’s. It looked rather beat up, and had some graffiti painted on parts of it. At least it wouldn’t draw too much attention. It looked like every other shuttle that came from Pandora.

The flight up to the station didn’t take long, at all. The pilot navigated through the airspace around the station, making his way to the chosen maintenance/waste disposal dock. Luckily, they had a helper on the inside that had diverted the security feed away from the area. Rosie was’t too surprised. Flash enough money in someone’s face, and they’ll double cross anyone.

Up close, Rosie could now see the hundreds of thousands of windows that dotted the station. The lights that lit up every inch, the glowing center, and the towering sides that seemed to go up and up forever. What was it about this station that drew so much fascination from her? Rosie couldn’t deny that she was excited to finally be stepping foot on board.

The shuttle began to shake and vibrate as the pilot switched into a lower flight mode and began lowering towards the small dock.

“I’ll head back up once you let me know to!” The pilot called out, over the rickety hum of the shuttle. Rosie signaled a thumbs up and released the door from its locked in position. It quickly slid open and Rosie stepped down onto the metal dock. She felt a shiver roll over her as the coolness of space rushed around her. Gaining her “space legs” and trying not to tumble over at the change to artificial gravity - she let go of the handle on the shuttle’s side and took a few slow steps away. The pilot shot a thumbs up from the window and began rising away.

Rosie’s heart thumped away in her chest as she looked around her. Thankfully, no one was around, save for a couple yellow robots on the far side - lifting large dumpsters and emptying them into an incinerator shaft. They didn’t seem to notice her, or the now departed shuttle. The area was covered and oxygenated - not _too_large, but definitely not small. There were several big shipping containers, a few empty dumpsters, a few not empty ones, other large metal stacked containers, and a few different doors that must’ve led to various areas inside. There was a large set of yellow painted words on the farthest wall, reading:

LEVEL 83 - DOCK 24- DISPOSAL SITE 61

This was just one of at least 61 trash and waste disposal docks, and it was huge! Much bigger than the one or two the Maliwan sub-quarter has. Rosie began to wonder if everything up here was going to be larger than expected.

Rosie realized that she was just standing out in the open - watching robots throw trash into a shaft, and quickly began walking towards one of the doors. With a press of a glowing blue button, the door slid open to another small room. A few maintenance uniforms were hung up on the wall, along with a couple full-head covering air helmets. On the opposite wall was an identical door with another button next to it. Rosie stepped over to it and depressed the button.

“COMMENCING DECONTAMINATION PROTOCOL,” a loud robotic voice played throughout the small room.

Just as quickly as the voice had startled her - a misting gust of cold air blew through the room, causing Rosie to let out a small squeal. It smelled nice, at least.

“DECONTAMINATION COMPLETE.” The voice boomed again as the door slid open.

Rosie quickly stepped out of the cold room, fixing the blown around hairs of her wig and untangling them from her glasses - shaking off a couple more shivers from the cold mist. Once finished, she glanced up to see a couple of people, that looked to be janitors, staring over at her. A look of “_um_..?” on their faces. She gave a quick smile, while adjusting her skirt and blouse.

“Hate that thing. Don’t you?” She asked as she briskly walked past them.

The two just shrugged their shoulders, with a look of “_it’s not my job to care about whatever just happened_.” shared between them as they continued rolling trash trollies toward the shoot.

Rosie was starting to wonder if coming in through maintenance was such a good idea, seeing as she had no idea where to go. There were a few indicator signs on the walls, but even those weren’t helping too much when she had no idea what most of the places were. She just needed to find her way out of the access tunnels and then maybe she could navigate better.

After passing a few more people that looked at her oddly, most likely due to her fancy-business attire and not dingy janitor uniform - she finally found a set of stairs that led to...

...a different area of maintenance. She’d been walking around this area for at least 20 minutes and still couldn’t find a way out. Rosie let out a loud sigh and slumped her forehead against the cool metal wall.

“Um..ma’am? Are you alright? You don’t look like you’re supposed to be down here...” a soft voice spoke up, giving a small chuckle at the end.

Rosie quickly quit leaning on the wall and turned towards the man, just standing there...holding a tool bag. His maintenance uniform half unzipped and showing off his black stain spotted, white tank top underneath. He looked fairly young, sandy blonde hair, tanned skin, and a decent face. A toothpick sticking out from his mouth as he spoke. “You lost or somethin’? You look like you work further up.” He chuckled again, giving a small grin.

“Um...y-yes. I came down to..dispose of things...and I can’t find my way out now.” Rosie gave a bubbly smile with a ditsy shrug of her shoulders.

“Things, huh? I hope it wasn’t another body. They’re really a bummer to clean out of the grinders.”

Rosie’s eyes widened. “A bod- Uh..no... it wasn’t a-“

The young man began to laugh, his grin growing. “I’m just messin with ya! Well, not about the bodies in the trash grinder. They really are a hassle to clean up.”

Rosie’s face grimaced a little at the thought. “I...can imagine..”

“Yeah...anyway...you can just take the elevator back up to the Hub. It’s just down this hall and to the right a ways.” He paused for a moment. “Isn’t that the way you came down?”

Rosie gave off her best “dumb girl” act. “Yeah, but silly old me, completely got lost down here. It’s not the first time it’s happened. I should really get a map!” She smiled with a nervous chuckle.

The man chuckled back, giving a nod. “Yeah, I’d say so. Well, you have a good day, Ma’am. Hope you get back to your department alright.” With that, he gave a half-hearted finger salute and headed the other way.

Rosie kept her fake smile up until the man had turned and walked off, with it immediately falling back into a straight line then. She took in a deep breath, letting it out in a puff through her nose. She rounded the right-hand corner at the end of the hall, and sure enough...at the end was an elevator. Her eyes rolled with how close she had been to it. Rosie never did like having to act dumb. It seemed belittling.

It was a service elevator that only went to something called “Hub” and down to maintenance. Rosie shrugged and pressed the _up_ button. The elevator shifted and began to rise. It definitely felt like more than a few levels were being passed. After several more seconds, the elevator slowed and came to a stop. The double doors slid to the side and Rosie stepped out.

The first thing she noticed was...yellow. Yellow banners, yellow words, the sky even looked like yellow sunlight..._wait- the sky_?! Rosie stepped out into the walkway more and looked up. Sure enough, there was what _looked_ to be a sky! With towering buildings and flying shuttles throughout it. Rosie’s eyes began to scan over the various signs of shops and eateries. So many people. People walking, sitting, just standing around talking. She noticed a few of those yellow robots she’d seen earlier, only these looked to be a bit more armored. She walked closer to the steps that led down into the large area - her eyes being drawn up to large portraits of former Presidents. Then to the giant words:

HUB OF HEROISM

_“_What _is_ this place?_” _She whispered to herself as she stood, just gawking at the expansive area. The buildings seemed to go up forever, past the artificial clouds. She could see balconies, some with people out on them. Little shops - advertising their wares, people in suits and pencil skirts eating and drinking, and people walking around with bags from various stores. A sales pitch caught her ear - turning in its direction, she could see a little cafe - a small hologram of a woman being projected, chanting about how great their sandwiches were. “_If you’re hungry in The Hub, you need a Sandy’s Sub_! Comes with a free homemade cookie if you buy a drink with your meal!”

This was overwhelmingly fantastic. There was just so much to look at! Rosie imagined that she could walk around here for hours and not see everything there was to see. However, that was not why she was here. As much as she wanted to ignore the real reason she was on this space station in first place, she knew she needed to at least try to find something to take back from this.

Rosie’s eyes scanned the room for a few seconds longer, before turning down a large nearby hallway. The words on the wall indicated that an information desk was down that way - in Immigration Services.

_“Huh, to get to live up here_...” Rosie began thinking to herself, as she walked. She sighed at herself internally with an eye roll. “_No. Don’t even think like that. This is Hyperion. Literally never going to happen_.”

As she entered the large room of Immigration Services, she first noticed the many counter-like desks and computer consoles - with people working away behind them. Nearly each desk had at least a few people in line - papers in hand...waiting to get their spot on the station. Then, the giant windows that allowed a great side view of the center of Helios - The Eye, as she’d come to hear it be called. At the back of the room, near another hallway that indicated an elevator area, was a holographic 3D map of Helios. A small red dot, indicating: YOU ARE HERE.

“Finally!” She whispered to herself as she strode over to the console the large H was being projected from. A smaller map was displayed on the console’s screen, with a list of places to go. Rosie scrolled through what seemed like a never ending list of locations, finally arriving at the R’s. “Ah ha!” She whispered again as she found the **Research & Development** tag. Tapping on it, the small map zoomed out and then slowly zoomed in to the indicated area. She moved the map around a little, finding where she currently was and plotting a map in her mind of where to go.

Rosie glanced around again, just taking in everything she could see. There were several large screens, displaying everything from the weather of Pandora to movie times in the various theaters, and weekly events coming up within the next few months. Everywhere she looked was another fancy bit of tech, adorned with Hyperion’s colors. There were even a few framed company posters with the CEO’s face on them - some with an encouraging phrase on them...some seemed a bit more threat-y. “Remember to always work hard and do your best! ...Or you’ll probably die! Hyperion!”

_What was it like to work on a station like this? Not on a planet, no real sun light or gravity, and with a boss like Handsome Jack?_ Rosie wondered as she watched people making their way around. Some looked liked programmed robots - perfectly moving around things like they’d walked these paths a thousand times...maybe they had...maybe much more than a thousand for some.

_Enough people watching_. Rosie looked over the map once more and headed for the elevator area. Four different elevators sat side by side. There were a few people waiting outside for the next one to arrive and open its doors. A couple of young women stood nearby, waiting as well. Rosie could hear them giggling and talking about how badly they wished they could catch someone’s eye. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but it wasn’t like the two were whispering all that quietly. Especially when they boarded the same elevator as her and a couple others. Standing in the corner and continuing their banter - Rosie overheard a key phrase that instantly told who this lust filled conversation was about.

“...oh my god, well he is the CEO... I do wonder what he looks like under that mask though. I heard he has a big scar...” One girl whispered.

“What does it matter? If I got the chance to sleep with him, I don’t care what his real face looks like!” The two began giggling again until their desired floor was reached. Finally exiting and leaving the rest of the people in pleasant silence.

Rosie glanced over to see an older woman roll her eyes at the two young girls. Apparently everyone had been hearing their little whispering fantasies. It did get Rosie wondering. _A scar_.. it must bother him enough to constantly cover it.

The elevator finally reached the floor Rosie had been waiting for. Moving through the couple of people in front of her, she slid through and out into the new hallway. As expected, this one looked just as foreign as the rest of the station had been so far. Several people passed, going each way. None seemed to even notice her standing there. They all just passed by - either staring blankly ahead, reading something on their ECHOs, or chatting away with another person. Rosie had to keep reminding herself that this whole place was their entire way of life. They lived here, worked here, ate and slept...all on this giant space station. It was almost fascinating to her. Like something out of the stories she used to be told. These people could look out of their windows anytime and see the sparkling blanket of space, the moon, and Pandora below. What a sight that must be after a long day.

Rosie began walking again, heading the direction she thought/hoped was the right way. Eventually, a turn-off to the left appeared with a sign indicating a few different areas in that direction. One of them being R&D. After a few more minutes of walking, she found the last hallway to go through. It was darker, kept dim for the various windowed creature-containing labs that were positioned down its way. Her thoughts began hoping that the hacking device would allow her access into the R&D labs without alerting anyone.

“Hello Sweet-cheeks.”

Rosie’s eyes instantly closed with an exasperated sigh leaving her nostrils. She slowly turned to see the face that matched the sultry voice.

A raised brow and a cocky smirk greeted her. Two mesmerizing mismatched eyes stared back, keeping their gaze locked.

“Funny seeing you here. On Helios. Not back at daddy’s _Mali-crap_ mansion.

Rosie’s eyes narrowed. Slowly letting a sarcastic smirk appear on her lips with a little nose scrunch. “Oh, you didn’t know? I moved out of daddy’s mansion. I live on Pandora now. Ya know, in _my_ building. All the way at the top in my fancy new penthouse.”

Jack mimicked her sarcasm in his own expression and voice. “Oh? I wouldn’t have thought you guys could afford that. Seeing as how Mailwan’s profits are _laughable_ compared to mine.” The mans usual cocky smirk plastered across his face. His words being echoed with small chuckles as he spoke.

Rosie couldn’t help but roll her eyes, moving them to look out to the opening of the hallway. Not allowing herself to meet the piercing eyes staring down at her.

“So.” Jack continued, taking a step closer, causing Rosie to step back as well. Her back now against the cool wall. She couldn’t help it now, she glanced up for a second. Just long enough to see the man’s smirk growing. “...I gotta say, the short blonde wig, the glasses...red lips. It’s really cute, buuuut...” His hand rose up to the back of her head and tugged at the wigs bottom, pulling it off completely. “Red suits you better.”

Looking down at the wig now in his hand, being offered back, she took in a deep breath. To calm the annoyance at her rather nicely done disguise not fooling him. She pulled the fake glasses off. Her hand then rose and took the wig from him, as her other hand pulled the tight mesh cap from her head - allowing the loose red curls to tumble down on to her shoulders. She couldn’t help but notice the slight curve on the CEO’s lips as he watched.

“Is that a compliment? I wouldn’t have expected you’d be good at giving those.” Her lips resuming their snarky smirk.

Jack leaned in closer, his chest nearly pressing against her breasts now. “Oh, kitten. There’s a lot that I’m good at, that you don’t know about.”

Rosie’s eyes widened as she tried to not visibly squirm at the closeness of Jack in front of her and his honied words. His strong, clean and manly scent kissing at her senses.

‘_Get it together, damnit. You’re here to steal his secrets not wiggle at his insinuations.’ _Rosie tore her gaze from his, looking down at the floor between them.

“Well. I should probably just leave then-“

Jack’s arm came up and blocked the way as she attempted to turn and step away. His palm firmly pressed against the wall next to Rosie. She was boxed in now. Her eyes moved up to meet his stare. His lips still holding a smirk. His eyes looking even more sultry than she’d seen them be before.

“Ah. Ah. You snuck on to my space station for a reason, Princess. Annnnnd, seeing as how R&D is just right around the corner...” his smirk grew into a toothy grin, showing off his canines. “Daddy send you to steal from me?”

Rosie’s narrowed eyes gave him the answer he was looking for.

“Mhmm. That’s what I thought. Find what you were looking for, sweetheart?”

“Do you really think I’d tell you if I had or not?” She sneered up at him.

“Eh. I don’t really care if you tell me or not. I’m gonna search you anyway.” His lips curved into a jesting smirk.

“You’ll search me yourself? Don’t you pay people to do that for you? Or are you not as rich as you say you are?” Rosie couldn’t help but sass back - enjoying the slightest eye twitch it brought from Jack.

Jack paused for beat, taking in a deep breath. “I’m _beyond_ rich, Princess. I can buy _anything_ in the galaxy.”

“Well, I’m sure that comes in handy when you need a date. When your _good_ looks and charm don’t usually get ‘em - your money surely does, right?” Rosie let a mocking smirk rise on her lips. Jack’s stare held for a moment before he closed his eyes with a slow nod and a chuckle.

“Aw, is someone jealous?” He teased back.

“Of your money?” Rosie’s brow arched, unamused.

“Of my money...or the women who get to go on “dates” with me. I mean, I don’t really do _dates_, but...” His smirk grew to a full grin now. His eyes showing his pure amusement.

“If I recall correctly, I’ve already turned down an invitation from you.” Rosie watched to see his grin fail, to see her jabs finally getting at him - but they didn’t. His grin stayed. His smug expression never leaving his face.

“Ya, did. Didn’t you? Hm.” He gave a small shrug, pulling his hand away from the wall. “I’ll give you another choice then. Since you are _technically_trespassing on _my_ station.. I can either take you to Security, let some female guard strip you down and search you. Or...if you’d prefer...you can come with me, up to my penthouse...and I can search you, a little more _personally_.” Jack’s grin turned to a seductive half smirk as he gave a suggestive wink.

His piercing gaze still holding Rosie’s eyes. Those eyes could temp anyone to do just about anything he asked. Rosie could feel her heart pounding at the beginnings of thoughts. Thoughts about what was bound to happen if she chose the latter. She could feel a familiar quiver deep inside - an urge to delve deeper into the mystery of this man. ‘_That’s exactly what he wants though_.’

“I’ll take my chances with Security.” Rosie replied - flatly staring up at Jack. Seeing his brow raise the slightest bit with surprise. He really _had_expected her to chose the other option.

“Alright then, sweet-cheeks. Let’s go.”

The two walked next to each other. Close enough for Jack to grab her arm if she tried anything. Rosie wasn’t that brave...or dumb. There were far too many ways she could get shot on this base as soon as Jack called the order. Besides, she hadn’t been able to take anything. Security wouldn’t find anything during their search...but she’d definitely be in Helios’s systems now. No second try after this mess up.

It was a decent length walk to Security. Rosie had already lost count of the many people that would stop whatever they were doing to gawk at Jack as he walked by. Some nearly swooning at the sight of him. Their gazes would then fall to her. Their brows furrowing with wonder as to who she was. Unless they somehow knew she was with Maliwan already. Had the news of her position on the planet below already made it up to Helios? Either way, Jack hardly seemed to notice all of the eyes on him. Maybe he was just used to it.

“How did you find out I was onboard?” Rosie spoke up as the two continued their trek through the busy halls.

Jack glanced down to her at his side. Blonde wig still in her hand - although now balled up messily in the mesh cap. He nearly chuckled at the memory of how mad she looked when he’d caught her. “Helios has plenty of scans and security systems that could’ve pinged you the moment you stepped on. However, since you came in through somewhere you weren’t supposed to...you weren’t picked up at first. Unfortunately for you, one of The Hub’s facial recognition cameras recognized you. Pinged you to the system instantly. _I_ was then alerted, and asked if I knew that Maliwan was on Helios. Didn’t take long to find you. You did use the map, after all.”

Rosie rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I’ve ever been up here before, and it’s a little too big to just wander around in hopes of finding something.”

Jack let out a small laugh, clearly finding this entire situation much funnier than Rosie was. “You could always come up to visit. You looked like you were enjoying your time of waking around, to me.” Jack grinned down at her as the two came to a stop outside of a large closed airlocked door. Rosie narrowed her eyes in return. Annoyed at possibly how long he’d been able to see her through Helios’s cameras. She stepped ahead of him, ready to head into the Security department.

Jack reached his hand out and pressed a button next to the door. With a wave of coolness rushing in as the door rose up - Rosie’s eyes fell upon an exterior docking bay. Several small shuttles and a couple shipping vessels could be seen parked or taking off and coming in. The dark star specked space glowing beyond the purple/blue hued oxygenated dome covering the large dock.

Rosie turned back to Jack, a look of confusion painting her features. “This isn’t Security...”

“Good eyes.” Jack sarcastically replied, giving a little applause. Rosie’s gaze narrowed once more, nearly coming to a glare now. “I already know you didn’t take anything, Sweet-cheeks. There’s no point searching you.”

“Then why-“ Rosie began

Jack’s smirk appeared again. “Just to see what you’d chose. See ya later, Princess.” Jack turned with a bounce of his brow - taking a few steps before turning back to Rosie. “Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn’t tell Daddy you got caught.”

Rosie’s brows pulled together. “Why?”

“‘Cause then he won’t let you come back.” He gave a quick wink, turning and walking away before Rosie could even open her mouth.

She watched him for a moment. The casual swagger he walked with, that damn wink...

’_Cocky bastard_,’ She thought to herself as she pulled her ECHO out to call the pilot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers!   
I had an unexpected death in my family this week, and haven’t been able to get my thoughts going the right way for writing. So, here’s this chapter...but the next one may be a tad later...or it may not...just depends if I can get into the mood. Sorry in advance! 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think! 💛

**Author's Note:**

> This started out pretty slow and boring, but it’ll get more eventful in the following chapters. Just throwing it out there to see how it goes!  
Let me know what you think! Comments are great at letting me know if I should keep going with this or just scrap it!  
💛-BB


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